I cant believe Asus would goof up like this with a performance board. This is not some budget board based on a via or sis chipset. We are talking of an overclocker's mobo here that costs almost twice as much as a basic board. A performance board that has a really silly bug. The BIOS version on my A8N-E is 1010. The board does not actually effect overclock results, though in CPU information the changes that are supposed to be made is shown. But neither Windows nor CPU-Z show the changed clock speed. BUT:: Underclocking (reducing multiplier) works beautifully. Reduced clock speed can be seen in Windows. This means, the multiplier changes can be effected which is actually changed in teh PCU, but the CPU ext clock cannot be implemented which is a function of the board (and this is an overclockers' board!). After a lot of trial and error, I ENABLED the onboard Floppy controller. Then the o/c worked as it should. I had earlier disabled it as I dont (who does?) have a floppy drive. Turning the floppy drive off cripples overclocking on this board (with this BIOS version, at least. I dont know if there are updates, will check that now). Is n't this really stupid? I had had a good feeling about ASUS. But this has changed all that. If Asrock (their sister concern) had made such a careless testing mistake, then it is understandable. But Asus? No way forgivable! By the way, am currently running the setup as follows: Ext CPU clock at 230MHz resulting in a CPU speed of 2070MHz. Using PC 2300 RAM (thats 142MHz stock), running at 148MHz. (DDR speed is set at 266) Temperature at full load (prime95) is 43C. Plan is to do this:: Set RAM as DDR200 (100MHz) Reduce HT multiplier to 3 Increase ext clock to 300 Reduce multiplier to 8 Then I will get 2.4GHz (making the 3000+ in effect equal to a 3800), with RAM running at a safe 150MHz (I know this RAM can take that speed), and HT at 900MHz. Cooling is stock, with cabinet side cover off. Kailas Shastry 3000+ Venice, A8N-E, 768MB DDR266, 160GB Barracuda, 380W Cooler Master

Hi Kailas, I recently bought the Asus K8N-E & S754 3000+ Venice & have been experimenting with it. I haven't installed it in a case yet, the parts are scattered all over the bench. I posted my preliminary results a few days ago: S754 3000+ Venice O/C results I do have to take exception with a couple of your comments.... "I ENABLED the onboard Floppy controller. Then the o/c worked as it should. I had earlier disabled it as I dont (who does?) have a floppy drive." No offense, but IMO, it's stupid NOT to have a floppy drive. I know they're not often used these days, but there are times when they come in handy (i.e. BIOS flash, memtest86, SATA drivers). Plus they're cheap....there's little reason NOT to have one. "The BIOS version on my A8N-E is 1010" 1010? Asus doesn't even list a v1010 at their site. I immediately flashed my board to v0411 & I used my outdated/useless floppy drive to do it...lol "Using PC 2300 RAM (thats 142MHz stock), running at 148MHz" Why are you running such slow RAM? If you check my post & the included screenshot, you'll see I got my 3000+ to run at 2.7GHz (9 x 300) with my PC3200 RAM at 193MHz (set at DDR266). I also tried 2.5GHz (10 x 250, RAM at 208MHz) & 2.6GHz (10 x 260, RAM at 217MHz). From what I've picked up in my readings, it's best to set the AGP speed to 67MHz & the last number in the RAM timing string should be set to 10. For example, the default timings for the RAM I'm using for testing are 3-3-3-8, but I set them to 2.5-3-3-10. Also, SATA HDDs tend to limit the overclockability...apparently this is somewhat common to S754 boards, so it would be best to use a PATA/IDE HDD. Sabertooth mentioned this in my post, plus I have also run across that info on different hardware sites.

Hi Jam, Yes, I did read your post on the 754 3000+ o/c. Not fully yet, but will do read it. couple of things: - When I need a floppy drive, I'll connect it and then enable it. And, I would need it only rarely anyway. I run memtest86 from a CD. In fact, a couple of PC vendors are putting card readers in place of floppy drives! Ok, the 1010 is what CPU-Z shows as ASUS A8N-E ACPI BIOS Revision 1010 under version. The date is 11/25/2005. May be I am mixed up about the BIOS version code. Will look it up at next boot up. Now, why am I using such slow RAM? Because I got it free :D Though I have to return it sometime. I spent Rs 24,000 (that is about US $520) on an upgrade, after a power supply blow-up fried by Athlon 2000+ XP. This is what I bought: -Athlon 3000+ venice (E6 stepping) -Asus A8N-E -XFX 7600GS 256 MB -Barracuda 160GB -Lite On DVD Writer -Cooler Master 380W power supply In a couple of weeks - a month's time I will return these RAM sticks to my friend (who just bought 1GB X 2 OCZ sticks) and then get a gig at least of DDR400 for myself. That is the reason for the low speed RAM. And, as I type this, I am running 2.5GHz, 50C at prime95 full load. Jam, need to know one thing. If I set a multiplier to a lower value (say x7), and enable cool and quiet (save power and mother earth and save on electricity bills), the multiplier comes to its default value x9 (which on the non X2 athlons is the maximum, anyway) when the system is under a load. The BIOS does NOT sense that I have manually set the multiplier to x7, and hence at load the maximum should be x7 ONLY and not x9 (default). This means, you cannot use multiplier to set speeds and still enable cool and quiet to set an auto underclock when there is no load. Does this happen on other boards as well? Kailas Shastry 3000+ Venice, A8N-E, 768MB DDR266, 160GB Barracuda, 380W Cooler Master

As I understand it, Cool 'n Quiet causes the desktop system to work similar to a laptop in that it reduces the CPU multi based on load. So at idle, your multi may drop to say, 4x, then the CPU will only be running at 800MHz (that's assuming the stock freq of 200MHz)....the vcore is dropped as well. This keeps the CPU temp down & saves energy. And if your cooling fans adjust RPMs based on temp, the fan speeds will be reduced & your PC will be more quiet. Hence, "Cool 'n Quiet". It's generally recommended to disable it when overclocking. I have C 'n Q disabled & have no intentions of enabling it. I'm curious at to why you say your default multi is 9x? My 3000+ runs at 2.0GHz...the default multi is 10x. I have the latest version (P/N ADA3000AIK4BX). http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/des...

Yes, I understand how Cool and Quiet works, but wondering if its normal for the multiplier to get to its default value even when the user has explicitly, manually set it to a particular value that is less than default. Wanted to know if its normal with all overclocking boards. And, for your 754 3000+, the CPU speed is 2.0GHz. For the 939 venice core, it is 1.8GHz, hence the multiplier differece. There are so many different AMD CPU models, with different configurations that even the most hardcore pc geek will find it hard to remember names and specs for different models. Intel seems a lot better with their nomenclature. Kailas Shastry 3000+ Venice, A8N-E, 768MB DDR266, 160GB Barracuda, 380W Cooler Master

LOL...I just noticed that you've been talking about an A8N-E & I'm talking about a K8N-E. I thought we had the same board! Sorry about that. The basic overclocking theory is pretty much the same though, except that your board has PCI-E so the 67MHz speed setting doesn't apply. And you were right about the 1010 BIOS. I just had a look & 1013 is the latest. Bottomline is that if you're gonna overclock, disable C 'n Q...it's counterproductive.

"Bottomline is that if you're gonna overclock, disable C 'n Q...it's counterproductive." Yup!..............pretty much sums it all up.